Gods and Generals [Region 2] (2003)

If you're expecting something like "Saving Private Ryan", you'll be disappointed. It's not that kind of a movie. "Gods and Generals" is part documentary, part drama, with the right mix of both to make it both highly entertaining and historically intriguing. As you listen to the characters, you almost believe that they're from the period and places in which the story is set.

What stuck in the craw of the critics is that this movie didn't present the Confederates as fire-breathing, racist, slavery-defending apes, and the Federals as saintly freedom-fighters. It would be simplistic and wrong to characterize the war as a struggle between good and evil. The vast majority of the Confederate soldiers didn't own slaves and didn't fight for the right to keep slaves. A lot of the Union soldiers, probably most, weren't fighting to free the slaves. There were flawed men on both sides of the war, as well as deeply moral men.

You can debate all you want about how much slavery was an issue in the Civil War, but as to this movie, all points of view were well represented through the characters: Lt. Col. Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, a professor-turned-soldier who was sympathetic to the plight of the black slaves; Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, a man of outstanding military service in the Federal army prior to the Civil War and a most beloved commander, who chose to defend his home state of Virginia against what he saw as an unlawful invasion by the North; Gen. Stonewall Jackson, a fearless and deeply religious man, devoted husband and a brilliant military tactician who loved the Union, but was fiercely loyal to Virginia; Martha, the house slave, who bravely turns away looting Union soldiers from her masters' home during the seige in Fredericksburg, but later takes in the Union's wounded, and who yearns to be free; Jim Lewis, Gen. Jackson's black cook, who prays that one day all of this family will be free. Unforgettable characters, all of them.

If you are uncomfortable with religious overtones and poetic dialogue (sorry, but that's how people were back the), don't buy this DVD. If you don't care at all about American history, skip this one. If you can't watch any historical movie without the filter of 21st century values or political correctness, this movie isn't for you. If you have a short attention span, forget it. This movie clocks in at about 3:37.

If you are interested in the Civil War, or just curious and want to learn about it, if you're tired of all the [stuff] coming out of Hollywood these days, and you're willing to let a movie make you think for a change, if you can put your 21st century frame of mind on hold, I think you'll enjoy this DVD. No matter what the critics are saying, "Gods and Generals" will stand the test of time.

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"Warning! This movie contains explicit Bible reading. Scenes contain graphic depictions of prayer. The language may not be suitable for viewers offended by nonprofane references to Jesus. Viewers are strongly cautioned due to intense moralizing, violently affectionate marriages, and gratuitous displays of selfless behavior."

It's hard to portray piety well on-screen, and Hollywood these days scarcely ever tries to do so. But Stephen Lang pulls it off. His Jackson is stern, warm, charismatic and convincing. I had long imagined a film about Stonewall, and this is almost all I could have desired.

I had envisioned Ed Harris in the role, as he bears a strong resemblance to Jackson, but I don't think Harris could have outdone Lang or even equalled him. If you doubt Lang's acting chops, just watch him play Pickett in "Gettysburg." What a contrast to Lang's Jackson! Each portrayal has a life of its own. Lang's performance outdoes even the great Robert Duvall, who here and there lets the hint of a "Lonesome Dove" mannerism slip into his portrayal of Lee.

"Gods and Generals" is especially welcome in that it contains none of the puerile nonsense that spoiled the recent would-be epics "Pearl Harbor" and "The Patriot." Plodding it may be, but it should at least get credit for its maturity.

Here's what I missed in "Gods and Generals" and hope to see in the 6-hour DVD:

* Some sense of how Jackson and Lee earned their immense reputations, in the Valley and Peninsula campaigns and at Second Manassas.

* Some more attention to the Federal commanders, who were the tragicomic foils for Lee's and Jackson's brilliance. In the movie, that parade of bunglers and blowhards is represented only by Burnside. I understand the DVD will include Antietam, so we may meet McClellan there, but I want to see Pope and Hooker huff, puff and fall on their faces, too.

* Speaking of bunglers and blowhards, a hard look at the secessionist firebrands who brought the war on might have mollified those critics who found the Southern cause way too idealized in this picture. Especially on the issue of slavery and race, a contrast could have been drawn between Jackson and someone like Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, who prattled about the "great truth" of white superiority. The South's bigotry resided in its politicians, not in men like Jackson. (One critic doubted that Jackson would ever have called the free black cook he hired "Mr. Lewis," as he does in the movie. But "Tom Fool" Jackson was known in pre-war Lexington for tipping his hat to black men on the street. Said he: "I could not be less polite to a Negro than he is to me.")

I look forward eagerly to seeing the conclusion of Mr. Maxwell's Civil War trilogy. In the role of U.S. Grant, the Union general who finally took Lee's measure, I'd suggest Russell Crowe. Like Grant, Crowe looks a bit surly, "as if he were about to drive his forehead through a brick wall."

And if Crowe isn't available, just call on Lang again. Embodying Jackson, Pickett AND Grant --- now, THAT would be an acting trifecta!

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